


(a demon's guide to stealing a soul-- and maybe a heart)

by Existential_crisis



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Bullying, Family Issues, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, M/M, Minor America/England (Hetalia), Minor China/Russia (Hetalia), Self-Harm, demon!iceland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 11:17:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20081320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Existential_crisis/pseuds/Existential_crisis
Summary: (yes I know "hell" is in Norway, but for the sake of the ship Emil can be Icelandic)also, this was written for my homework in summer school so...





	(a demon's guide to stealing a soul-- and maybe a heart)

Some people long for a guardian angel. However, I, a demon, do their job for them. Call me a guardian demon or whatever. That’s not my job though. I wasn’t tasked to do it.   
I know you have some questions. Well, I’m from hell- obviously, but to fit in with civilian life, I say I am from Norway. Because absolutely no one that lives in Hong Kong is from Norway. I live with my brother—— a fellow demon, and I go to school in Hong Kong. I am a few thousand years old, and since demon forms cannot pass through the barrier without a vessel, I took the vessel of a 15- year-old boy, 1) to fit in and 2) to be able to get to the surface.   
I know most people that have met our kind say that we are selfish assholes, that we don’t feel anything for anyone but ourselves, but that’s only our survivalist mindset. Because how else are you going to survive in a world that’s “kill or be killed”?   
The reason why I chose HK was because of the stressful atmosphere. Their teenage suicide rates are through the roof. The more depressed people are, the more desperate they are to “find a saviour”, the easier it is to manipulate them, the more likely I am to get a deal.   
Even though this is a lengthy and exhausting process, in the end, it’s worth it. Because children’s souls are the sweetest.  
Just as I was convinced I made the perfect choice of the place to find a victim, I took a double-take when I got to the school. I wasn’t the elite, top tier of humanity back then. No way I could’ve gone to school. Unlike many, I don’t have strong desires to be knowledgeable. Yet here I am.   
The school was huge, the largest in Hong Kong in fact, yet it felt constricting at the same time. I’ve never seen these people before, yet somehow they were all familiar faces. Could it be because they looked the same as newcomers to hell? No, because they’ve been at school for their entire lives.   
If school was the miniaturised version of normal society, then the future of humanity is doomed. Few of the children are enthusiastic to learn, other than which look like they want to die. Everyone is expected to achieve the same standards, which, is such an absurd idea.   
Friendships here are artificial. They band together to ally boredom. No one came to me for an alliance. For weeks, kids were looking at me weird. But I wasn’t. I was wearing the same uniform as everyone else; I had a big, heavy school bag on my back like everyone else; I was the average height. I even looked into my phone camera once to make sure I wasn’t in my true form. So why were they refusing to talk to me, or staring at me like I was a unicorn?  
“Like, you need to step aside or something, dude. You’ll get trampled by everyone if you just stand in the middle of the road.” A voice with a vaguely British accent rang through my left ear. I looked over to see a boy slightly taller than me. I’ve seen him around. He wears a long-sleeved jacket every day even if it’s 30 degrees. His face was handsome, but the first thing you’d notice is his thick eyebrows, which I thought was quite unusual.   
“Oh sorry man,” I said, following him into his classroom once I recognised him from my class.   
“He’ll do.” I thought to myself.   
“Say, like, are you new here?” I nodded.   
“Just moved here. It’s a bit nerve-racking going to a completely new environment, you know?”   
Our conversation had some “mhmm”s scattered here and there, but to spare you the trouble, I deduced it to- his name is Leon, he’s half- British, half-Chinese and didn’t really fit in with the others, which he claimed was due to just “people not comprehending his awesomeness”. I can’t help but think that there’s a reason more disheartening that he’s not telling me. Good. 

Becoming acquaintances was more straightforward than I thought. When two loners join forces together, they become the human equivalent of the term “alone together”, which became what we were known around the school. We made an odd pair— platinum blond against brunette, death metal and classical music versus emo- rock, but somehow I found him approachable. Surely, someone I found so likeable shouldn’t be avoided by everyone else in the form?  
We had lunch almost every day together. On Thursdays, he has to go see the councillor, so I eat alone. We have certain classes together— like History, Math and PE. Though he never seems to be enthusiastic in PE class (yeah, because he’s always enthusiastic anyways.), and he seems to hate swimming. Or maybe he doesn’t know how to swim? Every time we have to swim he makes an excuse to the teacher like, “I’m not feeling well” and every time we play ball or something he still wears a sweater ?? Like how.   
I’ve been invited to his home a couple of times, but I haven’t accepted the offer yet. It just feels like moving too fast, and I don’t wanna mess anything up. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to set a perfect cover-up for who you actually are? 

“Come on! It won’t be a bother! Trust me. My dad is always saying I’m like antisocial or something cuz I never seem to hang out with anyone. Come on… you can bring your brother if you feel awkward.” He flashed me a pair of puppy eyes.   
“Okay, okay. I’ll bring Lukas as well. Uh… more like he’ll bring me. Just give me your address. He’ll drive me there.” Reluctantly, I had to agree.   
“Reeeeeeeeeee” the sound he made resembled a velociraptor. Maybe he was excited? Teenagers are confusing. 

My “brother”, Lukas, is more of a scholar than I am. Fun fact: to pull off the “brother” look, we had to possess twins. No matter how many similarities we possess, we are somewhat different. He plans out his work before he attempts it. He studies child psychology and body language, to hopefully be able to manipulate adolescents into making a deal with him. He has about a hundred books in his library, all about successful deals in the past, in hopes of “learning from the greats”. If anyone came to our apartment, they’d assume he was in a cult, a serial killer or both. Well — they’re not wrong. I, however, don’t have that patience. From my own experiences, let me give you a quick 101 of “how to get someone to make a deal with you”.   
Step 1: Select a victim. Preferably a mysterious loner.   
Step 2: Get close to them. Be their best friend. Give them attention (for some reason humans enjoy that)  
Step 3: Find out their troubles. Attack their weak spots (no not physically)   
Step 4: Offer them “help”. In other words, offer them a deal. Whatever they want, for the price of their soul. Kiss to seal the deal.   
Step 5: Hopefully that works and reap their soul  
Doesn’t take a thousand hours of studying to get that, right?

“This is the place.” Lukas woke me up from my daze. We teleported right at his front door.   
“Are we supposed to knock or...” I cut him off, pressing the doorbell. Honestly, bror needs to keep up with the times.   
“Hello!!!! Are you Leon’s buddies?” A tall, American man wearing a bomber jacket opened the door.   
“Um, yes sir.” Lukas was clearly confused.   
“Hahhhahhahahahha— sir? You can drop the formalities kids!! Come in!!”   
He made way to let us in a quaint, cosy apartment. Leon greeted us and showed him to his room. We passed a corridor that had like 4 rooms on each side, which, like many things about Leon, confuses me. There were also models of aeroplanes scattered around the house. “Why are there so many rooms?” damn it, I let a question slip out.   
“Oh, there are my siblings’ rooms. I have like, five. Well, they’re half-siblings. But they’re blood. And two bathrooms. And my dad’s offices.” Seeing our confused looks, he continued, “my parents had me when they were young. Mom basically abandoned me, my brother and dad. She got married to a Russian dude like five years ago. Then my dad got married to papa, who you just met… you know, the American. There he also brought over another two children.”  
Perfect. Family issues.   
“If you’re wondering I still have a brother from my mom’s side.”  
Seeing the awkward silence, Lukas quickly changed the subject. “Oh my anti-christ, is that a Supernatural poster??” He ran over to admire their faces.   
“You watch it too? Like, who’s your favourite character?”  
“Crowley obviously”  
“Mine’s Lucifer”  
“Yeah, he’s cool too”  
Never mind. Bror is pretty good at that teenager speak. 

Leon gave us a tour of the house, in which, most of them weren’t interesting. Though Lukas seemed to take interest in the device they called “the toilet”, I was intrigued by his dad’s workplace. It was similar to Lukas’ impressive library, but it contained more literary classics like “The importance of being Earnest”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. There were also some newer novels slipped into the midst of them. Though the thing that caught my eye like a diamond amongst a pile of coal was the three books stacked on his working desk. “The Discoverie of Witchcraft”, “Manual of Occultism” and “Wicca Book of Spells”.   
Who I assumed is his dad (because they have the. same. eyebrows.) was typing furiously at his computer, leading us to believe that he could just be a writer doing some research for his new book, however, I had a feeling it was something more than that.   
He looked up at us, “Hello, Arthur Kirkland. Nice to meet you.”  
“Nice to meet you sir”, Lukas replied, being the polite lil’ shit he is.   
“I see you are taking a liking to my collection. Fancy to see Leon making friends with such intellectual young lads like you.”  
“What are these about? What even is Wicca?” I put on my most professional “confused yet interested” teenager voice I could muster.   
“Wicca is my religion. It’s essentially witchcraft. I know most of us don’t believe in demons or anything of that sort, but I think if there is the good then there must also be the bad. To keep things balanced.” He replied in a matter-of-fact tone.   
Okay. So esteemed writer, former single father, who has a knack for witchcraft. 

After politely excusing ourselves, I turned to Leon.   
“Do you also believe in the supernatural like your dad?”   
“Yeah obviously.” He answered almost way too quickly.   
“… okay.”  
So, I don’t have to reveal myself and explain to him that we exist. Good. We’re getting somewhere with this. 

“It’s getting late… you two have got school tomorrow. We should probably get going.” Lukas reminded us.   
Leon showed us the way out and as soon as he shut the door behind us, we teleported back to our apartment.   
“So. That was an informative visit.” Lukas picked up his journal and started jotting down notes. I took a seat in the armchair opposite his.   
“You said people avoid him at school, right? I mean, I know his dad is like famous or whatever but… no one discriminates based on how rich people are. And he’s got some quirks but he’s not that weird. So. I say: tomorrow you go around the school to get information. Find out why people look at him weird.”

I decided to make a move during lunchtime. I tried talking to everyone that wasn’t in a big group. Most people just dismissed me with “I don’t really know him” or “he’s kinda a loner” until I got ahold of an informant.   
“Well, first of all, he can’t really speak Cantonese, which, no offence, is the language we communicate in. Most of us are not gonna switch just to accommodate you two. Then, well this is not really a reason but, every time there’s a parent-teacher meeting, wait wait wait, does he have 4 parents?? Anyways, like there’s this American guy that is his “dad” who’s like totally wack. But then he also has like 20 half-siblings?? But, honestly, people think he’s gay or something, and like… not cool. The boys don’t talk to him for obvious reasons and like, why on earth would girls try to get through to him, you know?” I was taken aback by her remarks but I said my thanks and bid my farewell. 

Gay? That’s the reason why people don’t talk to him? And the whole school is just okay with homophobia?

I despise every homophobic person out there. Well, and racists too. But more homophobic people. They can go to hell. The deepest level of it. And never be let back out. They can wash Satan’s feet or something. Don’t get into my general proximity. I will kill them until they die for real. They don’t deserve to exist.   
The love of my life was taken away from me. Because of the bastards that prosecute gay people for “indecency”. They decided to lock us in separate rooms, no escape, no windows nor doors, each damned direction you looked was a brick wall. Every night I would hear him crying, begging for them to let us go, run away to a different continent so that we could be together, somewhere we wouldn’t bother anyone. I wanted to punch through the walls so I could just hold him and let him know that I’m there. That I always will be there. But I couldn’t. For a fact that even if it were physically possible, the men guarding the prisons would beat us into bloody pulps. It was the worst feeling ever, knowing any day could be our last day. And the last moments of our life wouldn’t be us holding each other tight. Instead, we would be hung publicly.   
They wrapped the noose around our necks and pulled the lever— but I didn’t die. I just hung there while I watched him desperately gasping for life. I had to act dead for the audience, who all left in what felt like an eternity. As soon as they left, burning hot tears rolled down my cheeks.  
I wasn’t dead, but I was dead on the inside.  
Not knowing why God didn’t step in to stop this injustice, I decided to take matters into my own hands. This was some proper Assassins’ Creed shit. I tracked down and murdered every single one of those bastards that punish us for crimes we didn’t commit. It wasn’t our faults that we were born this way. This time, I made sure they would never catch me.   
The heavens above must be playing a practical joke on me. I went on to live a long 10 more years, doing the Lord’s work.   
Well, I thought I was, until the day a reaper took me to the depths of hell. I thought this was the Lord’s will— To rid all evil on the face of earth! I guess not. God is biased. Like the rest of us.   
They told me— in exchange for his soul, I would get to live on borrowed time for a decade. 

I’ve heard that heaven is completely white. White floors, white floors, white walls. I have seen angels, breaking through the barrier with their strong wings, gripping mistakenly fallen souls, raising them from perdition. Angels, the warriors of the Lord, should you not be wise enough to see a soul that doesn’t deserve life in this pit? Or can you only act when you’re given orders from above? Not that I wanted to be up there anyway. A false sense of righteousness, even though they’re just like us, but living in the penthouse. Over glorified birds, obedient to every command.   
Lucifer, the fallen angel, wings tinted black from sins. True advocate of free will. I know our pasts were not glorious, but we’re all satisfied with the present. Are angels truly content with the lives they lead?   
Hello isn’t as bad as the believers describe, a way to plant the seed of fear in human’s brains. Isn’t that more evil, than the evil they’re against?  
Down here, it’s not as hot as you might think. Maybe the combined heat of three fireplaces. The layout of hell is especially confusing. If you’ve ever heard the tale of the infinite IKEA, then you’d know what I’m talking about. We have heaps of new arrivals every day, but space never seems to run out, indicating that it’s expanding at a constant speed. Hell doesn’t look great, but then again, if I were to grow by 1000km2 every day, I wouldn’t have time to properly interior design myself either.   
Hell is an office building, a huge game of monopoly, a never-ending TV show.   
Heaven is North Korea. 

That brings me back to the present. Do I really want to reap the soul of a boy who is suffering the same things I went through? 

But now’s not the time to be sulking about it. Thinking thoroughly and critically is especially difficult when you have two brain cells working against each other. Leon was starting to get worried about me because I must’ve been dazing for a good while.   
“Hey man, did you see God or something? Wake up.” He waved his hand in front of my eyes repeatedly.   
“Yeah, um”, I rubbed my face with my hands, “I’m ok.”  
“So, like, I really need to tell you something. In private.”  
“Uh-huh.” Is this going where I think it is?  
“Can you… meet me after school today at the rooftop garden?”  
Of course, I agreed. Though half of me was defiant about it, the logical half thought that this was the perfect chance. 

“I’m gay.”  
“Oh.”  
Sometimes a simple “oh” is the worst thing you can say. In a moment where other’s acceptance is of the utmost importance, I decided to hit him with an “oh.”What are people supposed to do in this situation? Say “your sexuality doesn’t define you and I’ll like you in the same way”? Actually, that might just be it. But the dumbass me decided to give the most terrible reaction ever.   
“Have you told anyone else?” I followed up. I wonder if he actually values my friendship so much to make me a top priority.   
“I’ve told my dads, because like, they’re sure to accept me, right? But… you’re the second person I’ve told. You’re ok with this, right?” Of c o u r s e I was okay with it! More than ok. I wanted to hug him and tell him I was just like him. That he has nothing to be ashamed of and that   
“Thank you for trusting me.” The compassionate brain cell said.   
“I think you should also tell your mom, I mean— you’ve already gone through the first step, why stop now?” The selfish brain cell continued.   
“I’ll… try. But she’s so conservative and stuff, it’s gonna be hard. I’ll try.” 

It’s been a couple of days after that meeting now. Assuming that was as effective as I expected, he would’ve brought the news to his other parents the next time he sees them. But at this point, I had serious doubts about continuing this plan. I don’t want to do this any more, but I know if I didn’t continue, my brother would be disappointed in me for starting a project and not finishing it. My conflicting thoughts were interrupted when I saw the familiar demon circle and Latin spells floating around me. The world started to piece into existence.   
“Leon?”  
“Emil.”  
“How did you—“ we both said at the same time. Clearly, we were concerned about different things.   
“I’m a demon.” I blinked to show him. My eyes. They are completely purple. Even where the whites should be. “You summoned me. Why?”  
“I’m here to make a deal with you.”  
“No, I’m not doing that until you told me how you got this spell in the first place.” He held up his dad’s book. I should’ve known.   
“But why?? I thought you were happy! Or at least, I made you happy…”  
“Is that the only reason you talk to me?”   
“No! No! I do actually like you— as a friend of course.” his face completely puts on show that he isn’t satisfied with my answer.   
“At the start, I did choose you as a target, but… I never thought you’d be so desperate as to come to me for help willingly.”  
“So you were going to manipulate me into selling my soul to you?”  
That felt like a stab to the gut. “Yes.”  
He smudged his foot on the perfectly drawn demon circle.

“Go.”  
I hesitated.   
“GO!” 

He didn’t talk to me for a good week after that day. I know that he was just sitting alone in class every day, looking miserable— I know because I tried to sneak glances at him whenever I could. Somehow his already apathetic face seemed more tired than usual. The always hungry Leon seemed to have lost his appetite. He was always aggressively tapping his foot on the ground. If anyone was paying attention to me, they'd definitely think I had a crush on him.   
… do I? 

I feel this is somewhat inappropriate to be thinking about since I’m the one who put him in this depressive state. But I’m here to do the lord’s work right?

This is definitely intruding into his private space, but I teleported straight into his home. Or I thought I could. He warded his house with spells. The only thing I could do was desperately bang on his front door, hoping he’d answer. Wait, I forgot again. I could’ve just called. But I didn’t expect his dad to open the door.   
“Emil! I didn’t expect you here…Leon’s not here today, did he tell you to come visit?”  
“Umm… no, I kinda invited myself over… May I ask where he is though?”  
“He’s with his mom.”  
F*CK. 

The next day, he didn’t even come to school. I had to check in with him. Doesn’t matter that it’s school time, I texted him, “I’m coming over.” Repeated the same process: teleported in front of his door, rang the doorbell this time, and once again his dad opened the door.   
“Leon’s inside.” 

Leon must’ve brought the warding down. The door to the room was locked. Putting my finger to the keyhole, I unlocked the door. Sort of like “alohomora” from Harry Potter if you are familiar with it, but without the spells.   
The sight I saw was horrendous.   
Leon was holding a cutting knife to his wrist, meticulously crafting his way into his flesh. If this were a form of art he’d be a master at it. Scarlet liquid dripping down his wrists and thighs, his tears almost appeared stained the same colour. Eyes half-closed, but still focused on his blade, he looked pale as a ghost; the aura around him is completely gloomy, the atmosphere was suffocating. Another stroke. He still hasn’t noticed me standing in the doorway. I wanted to run towards him, hold him tight and toss the knife away, far from his reach— but I couldn’t. I thought I’d hurt him. As if he wasn’t already hurting himself enough. I took a deep breath and took a step forward.   
“Emil…” his eyes opened slightly. “Emil. Go away. Leave me the hell alone.”  
“Not even hell would abandon you.” I took another step forward.   
“Please. Let me help you.” I held my hands up, a silent plea.   
Slowly, I walked forward to him, making sure he wouldn’t try to attack me, making sure he didn’t feel threatened.   
I held my hand forward. Two fingers held up to his forehead, I healed his wounds. He practically collapsed into my arms. Not that I minded at all. I held him tightly, a promise to him. 

Carefully nursing him back to health, his face looked less lifeless and started to look more… Leon. I held his face in my hands and admired his features. He strained to open his eyes to look at me, and I took the chance to observe the deep pain and trauma that was hidden behind those strong eyes. Being so close to him, I could almost feel my heart hurt from the sadness radiating from his soul.   
“Shhh… it’s ok. It’s gonna be alright.” I cooed him, lulling him to sleep. “You deserve a good rest. I’ll be here when you wake up. Right here.”  
I knew for a fact that coming out was extremely stressful and difficult for someone who has been closeted for so long. Even if one side of his parents are part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves and super supportive, there is always still some doubt in whether everyone with shower you in acceptance. Now I feel the heavy weight of guilt on my shoulders after I encouraged him to come out to his other parents, even though he seemed so unsure about it.   
“Never coerce anyone into doing something they’re uncomfortable with.” I thought to myself. Even if this is near impossible for a demon, I believe that our nature doesn’t define us and that I can learn to be a compassionate, considerate person. With Leon’s help. He hasn’t given me a therapy session or anything, but I just feel like a whole different person after interacting with him. I leaned down and gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. 

I wonder why his dads didn’t think anything weird of me staying in the room for so long. Then I also wondered if they knew of Leon’s situation. Had he been self-harming all this time? I gently held his wrist up, noticing old scars were covering the entirety of his forearms. A sick feeling crept up my spine. Leon’s eyes fluttered open.   
He abruptly stood up. “What did you do to me?”  
“I healed you...” he started stumbling, you could almost see spirals starting to form around him. “But you’re not fully recovered. Come on, sit down.”  
He didn’t listen to me. “No no no. You’re going to tell me how you got in here and how I’m not dead yet.” With that, his legs gave out. I lunged forward to catch his fall.   
“Can I say that you fell for me? Or is that inappropriate.” I said with a smirk on my face. I lifted him like a princess and laid him on the bed. Placing his head on my lap, I started playing with his already messy hair.   
“You cancelled the warding,” I said, pointing to the well-crafted spell work, now broken, in the corner.   
“Oh yeah. Maybe I did. I must’ve been dozing while I did that…”  
“I healed you. You should be fine now but I know you’re still feeling kinda dizzy so just…stay put. Right here.”   
At first, Leon was trying to sit back up, avoiding resting on my lap, too weak to do so, I reassured him that I was fine with this. In fact, I want to stay like this for a while.   
“Please. Stop doing this to yourself. It hurts to see you like this.”  
Silence.   
“Why did you start doing this?” I tried my very best to be gentle with him, using the most soothing voice I could manage, even putting a soft smile on my lips.   
“I… had troubles. I don’t like the way people look at me at school. I don’t like the fact that I had no friends. I don’t like running back and forth between two families. I don’t like homophobia.”   
“Neither do I,” I said, hoping he’d get the idea.   
“So why did you summon me in the first place?”  
“I was going to ask the demon— which turned out to be you, if they could make sure my mother would accept me. But… I was dumb and just turned you away and went to my mother… I dunno, to prove to you that I can do it by myself or something.”  
“You’re so cute.” His face heated up, his eyes went wide, and put his hands up to cover his face.   
“I'm serious. You’re adorable.” His face was red by now.   
“StOp…” he said while chuckling a bit.   
“Do you still want me to take care of this issue for you? It won’t require your soul.” I said sincerely, not trying to play any tricks.   
“I’m pretty sure I don’t have to think about those bastards at school anymore. At least not when I know I have you…”  
“ But you can’t hide from your problems!”  
“Why not? They can’t find me here.” Leon said, pulling the bedsheets over his head.   
Honestly, couldn’t argue with that. These types of problems are near impossible to solve. People not being open-minded is something not even the most powerful demons can change. I understand his struggle, but sadly I can’t do anything about it to make him feel better. Actually, I can.   
I lifted the bedsheet, as one would lift a bride’s veil, and planted a kiss on Leon’s forehead.   
He stared at me with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.   
“Can I?” I put my thumb on his bottom lip. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded his head. As I got closer and closer to him, he closed his eyes. Exactly what you would read in a teenage romance novel. Our faces were so close, we could feel each other’s breath. Just before my lips would touch his, I pulled away.   
“JERK!” He pushed me away, laughing along with me. 

So yeah. After that day, we settled many issues together. We made sure to send him to a therapist, which took a bit of time to find the perfect pick. Some therapists in Hong Kong were only in it for the money, not truly caring for then patients’ mental health issues. Until we found one that was suitable for him, we didn’t stop. Nothing but the best for him.   
We talked to his parents— the supportive ones. We made the arrangement that he would study abroad, starting the next school year. Somehow, I knew that he would be happier overseas. Broaden his horizons, meet new friends, get more support.   
And I swear if anyone hurt him. God help them. 

Epilogue:   
“Hey... will you make a deal with me?”  
“...what?”  
“Your heart. In exchange for an eternity together.”  
We sealed the deal with a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> (yes I know "hell" is in Norway, but for the sake of the ship Emil can be Icelandic)  
also, this was written for my homework in summer school so...


End file.
